Haggai 1

God's people had received the curse of His covenant. As promised long ago, if they would not obey His voice He would send them far off into exile. This happened first to the northern kingdom of Israel by the hand of the Assyrians. Some years later the Babylonians destroyed the temple in Jerusalem and many in Judah were sent into exile. Yet according to the plan of God the people were given something of a new beginning in the days of Zerubbabel, a descendant of David whose name is included in the genealogies of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. This time of restoration, though in some ways difficult and disappointing to those who lived through it, was used as a metaphor for a much greater renewal that will come for all the people of God when the greatest Son of David returns. It was during this earlier time of restoration in the sixth century before Christ that the prophet Haggai was given a special message from God for Zerubbabel and for the high priest Joshua.

This message from the prophet Haggai was instrumental in calling the people of the restoration back to the task that God gave them. It was time for them to rebuild the temple that was destroyed in the attack of the Babylonians against the city. Somehow they had convinced themselves that this was not the time to focus on that great task. They certainly had faced opposition from others in the land when they were doing what God sent them back home to do. We can understand how they might have been attracted to the idea that they should wait for a safer time or for some other period in their lives when they might have decided that they had everything they thought necessary for this great endeavor. Yet in all their hesitancy, they had managed to move ahead with their own home building projects. Were they really so destitute? Then why were some of them living in such nice houses when the temple was still in ruins?

God called them to consider their ways. It is a very challenging thing for us to understand the Lord's providence in our lives. Some of this difficulty has to do with the fact that a single action on God's part may admit to more than one meaning. This is the interpretive challenge. The more formidable problem is the sin challenge. Are we willing to see the obvious? Are we willing to see that our efforts are not being blessed as they might be? Is it that we have been lacking in diligence? Not always. In this case, they planted much, but they harvested little. They worked and earned wages but they could not keep their coins in their pockets. What little they brought home, God blew away. They seemed unwilling to see the reason for their troubles. They were not seeking first the Lord and the place of His presence. It was His love that would not let them prosper in their current pursuits. He was calling them back to Himself because of His love for them. He knew that they needed to rebuild the temple as a matter of first importance, because they needed His presence with them for this new beginning.

This message was appropriately received. Zerubbabel heard it, Joshua agreed with it, the people believed it, and they all obeyed the voice of God that had come to them through the prophet Haggai. They saw God's point. They respected His message, and they respected Him. God's Word came back to them through the same prophet. God said, "I am with you." These were good words. With that encouragement and with the power of the Lord stirring up the spirits of their leaders and the spirits of all the people, they set about their work on the house of the Lord.

We are so senseless about the Lord's presence that we hardly notice when He is not there with us. It should have been an obvious thing that being slow to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem during the age of the Old Covenant would be detrimental to the congregation's experience of the presence of Almighty God. Somehow they did not seem to realize what a great need this was. Perhaps we are not so very different from them. Our issue is not necessarily buildings. Our great need is for the Spirit of the Lord to fill His people and for the Lord Jesus Christ to be present in and among His church.

Could it be that God might still refuse to allow us prosperity in His service if we want to do our version of the Christian life without Him? God has chosen us for relationship with Him. When Christ came, He came in person. He chose disciples, and served and taught them personally for three years. He calls us to life through the ministry of people, and He brings us into the church, but He brings us real spiritual growth only by the work of His Spirit. Our Lord wants us to attend to all those things that He tells us are necessary in order for Him to be present with us. More than that, the One who gave His life for us wants us to desire communion with Him.

The resurrection world that Jesus Christ has won for us is not loaded with prosperity while being devoid of the presence of God. It is the place where we will fully know the glory of God's presence with us and experience all the bounty that comes from Him. We are stretching toward that resurrection world now, and we should long for the presence of God in our lives more than any other thing. Let us build up the temple of the Lord in His worshiping people. Let us seek the Lord while He may be found that God might be magnified in the hearts and lives of all His children.